These days must be remembered and observed for every generation, every family, in every part of the world, in every city. The Holiday of Purim will never be abolished among the Jews, and their descendants will never cease to observe them. The next year, Queen Esther, the daughter of Avichayil, and Mordechai the Jew, used their authority to write a command that the Jews should obey this second Purim letter. They sent copies of the letter to all the Jews throughout the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of Achashvairosh’s empire, and the letter offered words of peace and truth. The purpose of the second letter was to ensure that the days of Purim be kept at their proper times, as established by Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, and as accepted by all Jews on themselves and their descendants, the fasts and the prayers as well. Esther’s statements confirmed the Holiday of Purim, and this Book was also included in the Tanach.
-Esther 9:28-32
Translation by Mordecai Housman

In addition, we are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman’s pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman’s three-cornered hat..It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim…
From Judaism 101

No observant Jew, Christian, or Messianic would believe for a minute that it’s wrong to thank God and to praise Him for all the wonderful things He’s done for us. God is Awesome and exceedingly worthy to be praised. In fact, our ability to praise Him as properly as He deserves will never be sufficient. That said, how far should our thanksgiving “celebrations” go? To throw another monkey wrench into the Messianic machine, should Gentiles – Messianic, Christian, or otherwise – celebrate Purim?

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It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them. The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. – Deuteronomy 32:35-36

What started as a domestic dispute may have ended in tragedy after a 21-year-old Galloway Township man told police he threw his three-month old daughter from the Driscoll Bridge after abducting her in East Orange Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
-News article at NJ.com

I admire people who can remain calm and collected, no matter what atrocity or disaster hits them in the face. There are many holy men and women who, when confronted with news of the most horrible kind, can still maintain their grace and loving kindness towards their fellow and towards even those who have committed terrible crimes. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those calm and collected people. Late last week, I read the news story about that 21-year-old man who, in a fit of anger towards his girlfriend, while she was in court trying to get a retraining order against him, kidnapped his 3-month-old daughter from his girlfriend’s mother’s home and threw the helpless child into the freezing Jersey river.

I won’t describe my initial reaction to this news in any detail, but to put it mildly, I was less than happy. Closer to the point, I wanted to ring the guy’s neck and that doesn’t even come close to what I was really thinking and feeling.

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The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ -Matthew 20:9-15

This parable of the Master is meant to communicate that, no matter at what stage in our life we come to faith in Yeshua (Jesus), our reward is the same. That is, if you came to faith at age 20, you don’t earn more heavenly “brownie points” than if you came to faith at age 40 or later. This is a topic that speaks to me, since I didn’t come to faith in Yeshua until my early 40s. When other believers find this out about me, some of them register a little bit of surprise. Some “long-time” believers have a tough time wondering what I did with my life before coming to faith. I even had one person ask me about what it was like, as he was unable to envision what a secular person’s view point of things would be, and why I’d come to faith if I hadn’t been raised (supposedly) in a believing home. That’s a little insulting.

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Actually, the title should probably say, “What did First Century Gentile Believers in Yeshua do on Friday Night?”, but that’s way too long and ungainly for a blog title. Why would I ask such a question, though? Something prodded my memory this morning.

Last summer, I had posted a comment on the Messianic Jewish Musings blog about the “split” between First Fruits of Zion and Tim Hegg. I don’t want to get into the whole issue, but when I commented on the blog, I subscribed to any further comments that were made in the blog. None were forthcoming…until this morning.

This morning’s comment wasn’t what made me start pondering, but revisiting the whole situation around FFOZ’s “theology shift” relative to differences in Torah compliance between Jews and Gentiles triggered a chain of thoughts. If you need some background on all this, visit FFOZ founder Boaz Michael’s blog article Reasoning Together for at least some of the details. The specific piece of this perspective that I am still chewing on has to do with the differences between the Gentile believer’s and the Jewish person’s approach to Shabbat. Let me explain.

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These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Teach them diligently to your children. When you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up. -Deuteronomy 6:6-8

Most of us in the Messianic movement recognize those verses from Deuteronomy as part of the Shema; the most holy prayer in Judaism, that tradition states must be prayed twice a day, everyday, to impress upon us the vital importance of our relationship with God and with our fellows.

Obviously, it’s important to God that we teach our children the commandments that He gave to the Children of Israel through His servant Moses. This includes teaching them the words of The Prophet, the Mashiach, Yeshua (Jesus), our living Torah, who also believes that children are especially important.

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” -Luke 18:15-17

Yet, are we teaching our children to receive the kingdom of God as the Master would have us do? Hopefully, if we belong to the community of faith, we are. But what other things does the world around us teach them?

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He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. -Deuteronomy 8:3

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the Adversary. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The Adversary said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” -Luke 4:1-4

Do you know where your next meal is coming from? If you have enough time to read this blog, then the answer is probably “yes”. Yet in these uncertain economic times, who knows if you’ll have a job (presuming that you are currently employed) next month, next week, or even tomorrow? Does that suggestion bother you, even a little? With unemployment rates seeming to skyrocket, I’m sure it bothers a lot of people, even in the community of faith. Yet Yeshua (Jesus) said this:

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